In today’s working life, networking plays an important role in most industries. Especially for entrepreneurs, but also for salaried workers, business these days relies on personal networks. Networking is a form of cooperation that often creates new, even surprising, opportunities for business in various forms. In an ideal situation, networking advances all parties’ career opportunities.
Social media has made contacting people easy. Essentially, in-depth communication can occur in the digital environment as well, but personal face-to-face contacts are still important.
Networking only requires you to be open-minded, interested in meeting new people and willing to learn to know them. In professional networking, it is important that the formed relationships are genuine – it is not enough to just hand out business cards or compile a list of social media contacts. It is easiest to get to know new people if you have another reason for contacting them besides superficial networking. For example, a concrete proposition for cooperation or presenting a future idea is a good way to approach interesting people or entities.
A crucial side of networking is your willingness to help others. Networking is about building partnerships in which it is essential to give more than you take. Share your connections by introducing people you know to others. In this way, you ensure that others will help you in turn. At the same time, you deepen your professional relationships and thus improve the quality of your networks.
Contacts from outside your professional circles can also become part of your network. You potentially already belong to various kinds of “networks:” family and relatives, friends and acquaintances, fellow students, friends of your parents or siblings, neighbours and friends of your friends, people you know through engagements, such as positions of trust and hobbies, past workplaces and co-workers, internship contacts, summer job workplaces and staff, social media followers and so forth.
Any contact may turn out to be significant, but the closer the relationship, the more important it is to ensure that the relationship is reciprocal. It is not sensible to sacrifice your close personal relationships at the altar of the working life.
You may also benefit from networking with professional recruiters. They have a lot of contacts with employers, and they can have inside information on interesting hidden jobs, for instance.
Building networks is persistent long-term work. You should start creating contacts already during your studies, even if you were not yet looking for work. You can contact interesting companies and organisations even if they were not currently hiring. An existing contact is a good basis for starting a conversation later on.
https://www.finnwards.com/working-in-finland/job-hunting-in-finland-the-importance-of-networks/
https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/for-finnish-customers/services/programs/in-brief